Shaheed-e-Muhabbat

On the 19th of February 1958, a man in his mid-sixties jumped on the railway track near Shahdara, with the intention of killing himself. He was being watched by his young daughter, who was 5 at that time. Police recovered three letters from the corpse. The first letter stated that Zainab should look after his two daughters, the second was his will, in which he donated his entire possession to a mosque, and the last letter stated that he should be buried as a Muslim in the village of Nurpur on Burki road. Only his second wish came true.

Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet, Sassi-Panno are all stories/myths, shrouded in mystery, oblivious to the criterion of chronology, however this story of Boota and Zainab is real. The love story of Boota and Zainab has touched many hearts. Shaheed-i-Muhabbat, a Punjabi feature film made by Gurdas Maan, Muhabbat a novel by Ishrat Rahmani, another novel Zainab Jamil, and Hollywood movie The Partition are all tributes to this couple.

Boota Singh was not allowed to be buried as a Muslim in Nurpur, because he was in love with Zainab, who belonged to that village. He had already made a lot of fuss about his love in front of the whole world. The people of Nurpur were already a laughing stock for the entire nation, how could have they allowed him the final victory. He was buried at Miani Sahib, where his grave became an object of veneration for young lovers. He was given the title of Shaheed-e-Muhabbat. They even wanted to construct a tomb over his grave, but the conservative elements in the society could not afford that at all. To stop the ‘crazy’ people, as they put it, they razed the grave in the darkness of night. Students re-did it in the morning, only to be razed again. This went on for a little while, after which it was permanently removed. Today only the old folks at the graveyard, who happened to have witness the entire episode, remember where his grave once was. This was the last resting place of Jamil Ahmad (Boota Singh). Even today in Nurpur, and its adjacent villages, it is a taboo to ever talk about Boota-Zainab, and who ever dares to do, is immediately asked not to. Nobody wants to talk about, even more than half a century after the incident, not even Zainab, who still happens to be alive and living there.

At the time of Partition, Zainab who was perhaps in her teens was trying to cross over the border to Pakistan. However, on the way, she was kidnapped by two Sikhs, whereas the rest of the family fled. As she was being taken away, her screams were heard by another Sikh. When he saw the girl, he fell in love with her, and purchased her from them for a hefty amount of Rs1500.

For a little while, he looked after her, after which he decided to marry her. Soon she gave birth to two daughters, whom they named Tanveer Kaur and Dilveer Kaur. Dilveer was the younger sister. Almost a decade after the creation of the two countries, the governments decided that they should return all the girls, women, who were kidnapped during Partition. One day as Zainab was in the fields with Dilveer, government agents took them and sent them to Pakistan. For the time being that Zainab was being detained at the camps, Boota was able to meet her, but once she was taken to Pakistan, he lost all contact with her.

Here, her family had settled at the then village of Nurpur, on Burki road. Once she returned, she was married to her cousin. Boota Singh alleged that he received letters from Zainab while she was here that he should come for her. Boota Singh went to the Jamia Mosque in Delhi and became Jamil Ahmad. Then he applied for Pakistani nationality on the basis of his religion, but he was refused.

Later he applied for a visa, but he wasn’t given that either. Finally, he took his older daughter along with him and crossed the border illegally. He was in Lahore. He went straight to the village of Nurpur, where he got a good thrashing from Zainab’s brothers and other relatives. Then he was handed over to the police, who registered a case against him for crossing over illegally. In the Lahore High Court, Boota Singh insisted that he had been wronged, and that he should be given his wife back. So the court decided to take the testimony of Zainab. When Zainab appeared along with her father and other male relatives, clad in no-see burqa, she not only refused to go back to Jamil Ahmad, but also pleaded that her daughter Dilveer Kaur, who accompanied her to Pakistan, should be taken away from her.

Boota Singh could not tolerate this unfaithfulness on the part of his beloved and broke into wailing at the court. Heart-broken, he along with his daughter was last seen loitering at the tombs of Nur Jahan and Jahangir. When he heard the sound of the train, he went to the track and committed suicide. He wanted Zainab to look after their daughters. Some villagers of Nurpur, whom I met recently, told me that Boota Singh and his daughter came here to meet her but she refused to take them in. They never returned, neither did Zainab ever try to find them. The elder daughter, who was 5 at that time, was adopted by Lahore High Court Barrister Rabia Sultana Qari. We don’t know where the younger daughter went.

I met Samuel at the Lahore High Court, who is the son of Bibi Shanti, house maid of Rabia Sultana. He said that Tanveer Kaur was given a Muslim name which he doesn’t remember and she used to sometimes accompany her foster mother to the chamber. She was given some education, probably around matriculation, after which she was wedded off. Her marriage was celebrated at a large scale, as far as he remembers and it was arranged at Rabia’s residence on Mall Road. Nobody at the High Court saw the girl after her marriage. They believe that even Rabia lost contact with her.

The Indians have embraced the legacy of Boota Singh; however his story still remains controversial on this side of the border. There are people who support his cause and believe that he had been wronged, but then there are other elements who still view him as a kafir even after he abandoned his religion. To them he infringed their haya and izzat, which of course they could not tolerate at all. The people of Nurpur and their adjacent villages belong to this latter category.

33 responses to “Shaheed-e-Muhabbat”

It is really a moving story. I first across its beautiful description in the book: Freedom at Midnight (1975) by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. In India, the story with some changes, has been made into a full length feature film – Shaheed-e Muhabbat: Buta Singh.
subhash parihar

One does not become ‘Shaeed-e-muhabat’ out of a deplorable crime of kidnapping a helpless girl and later marrying her. If this Sikh had any morals, he would have taken the girl, protected her her and made arrangements for her to rejoin her family in Pakistan.
There are many stories of the Sikhs kidnapping young Muslim girls during the bloodbath of 1947. Marrying them out of love is sheer rubbish. It was more to do with lust,revenge and personal grudge against Muslims at large. Keeping a concubine in those days was uncommon which led to only one thing and that was marrying the poor girls. Therefore these Sikhs who carried out this gruesome crime should stop giving it a glamorous name of ‘Muhabat’

hello brother love does’nt understand to which religion u belong to and stop behave like a racist..bloodbath not only happend in pak it happend in india aswell so stop blaming each other just respect their feelings love.

i really wonder do really ppl india and pak still believe in bloody caste system i really do respect their respective religion but commiting crime over the name of religion really sucks n i blame both the countries equally..move on guys lets change ppl thought altogether v can create wonder if v r together…..

It is not clear what the background of this sikh was but it is obvious that he was not the kidnapper. Those Sikhs who did commit atrocities on Muslims were criminals and deserved brutal treatment but ‘those Sikhs’ are not ‘all sikhs’ and surely poor Boota singh was not one of them. He surely could have done better regarding Zainab but it all depends on his background and capabilities. Nevertheless, he did not dump this woman after the charm was over and so was not driven by lust. He indeed kept her with respect as his wife. A lustful man does not sacrifice himself for a concubine but looks for a new one at the expense of the old one. Boota Singh, by all account, was neither a lustful man nor Zainab was his concubine. At the end, he did everything possible from giving up his nationality to religion and throwing himself at their feet to be one of them but nothing would change the brutal behavior and arrogance of the Nurpur people and Zainab’s family. What is unbelievable is how could Zainab disown her own children!

The least you can do is to sop slandering this poor man who paid too much for the partition saga!

How many of your Muslim men would risk their life to go back after partition for a woman? You are an absolute moron if you think he did all of this over lust, or revenge. No one for sakes their faith, travels illegally with a child and then ultimately commits suicide if it was lust or revenge. And please stop you bullshit, you think Muslim men didn’t rape and marry hindu and sikh girls forcibly? It happened on both sides. If he wanted to, he could have hurt her and tossed her but he didn’t.

History is cruel as reality is very harsh. The pathetic story of Boota Singh and Zainab shows the sublimity of human love. Religion is per chance. It could have been a Sikh girl and a Muslim boy. Perhaps reaction could have the been same: opposition from some diehard Sikhs. In north -west India, lot of honour killijng is going on on the basis of different castes though religion is the same. Liking of two opposite sexes is natural and perennial instinct among all the species. Human beings have evolved moral codes. This clash will continue. However, with the passage of the time this love story of Boota will get its audience. Life is very costly.It is difficult to protect others amidst violence and take ones own life. Death separates Love from lust. Boota changed his religion, disposed of his property and pleaded his cause. He lost the hope . It is victory of a social system. His death defies social system. In future, he may find a Waris Shah or a historian of literary imagination.

brother ,even i am searching for that issue,if u have time we will discuss about that issue ,plz feel free to share information.becoz i am planning to write a book on them.my email is zainabruhina@yahoo.in.

All I can say is…..Shame on Zainab and people of Nurpur! May they all rot in hell!
Poor Boota Singh, he did all he could but I guess he died a zillion times because of this treatment before he actually died… I hope his daughter is happily married…. He did a mistake by going back to get this worthless woman!

myself deepak from pathankot, india. actually i am very intersted in historical stories most in love stories.. i want to come pakistan to visit these villages shekhupura, nurpur, heer ranjha’s village.
but dont knw i would ever get a chance to come pakistan or not..

This story is extremely moving……….. I really want to know what happened to Sultana and Dilveer. Does anyone have any updates on them? I would really like to know how they handled this. It’s a very moving story. Thank You!

i also wanna go dere dat barki noorpur village i wanna meet to zainab if she alive i wanna see any pic of buta singh if available.. if someone want to visit dere den let me know plz.. we can go by ‘samjhota train’ guys we can create a group on fb or discuss abt diz..kinusukh24@gmail.com
or u can find me by d name of kinu sukh..
thanx guys..

Please tell me anybody where is tanveer kaur and dalveer kaur .how is zenab now. is she alive or ded.
This is so heart touching true story . When i reading this story i cant stop my tears .
Any body tell me what was done by indo pak government for boota singhs family.

this is very heart touching story .i watched this movie many times and when ever i watched i always cry .i always try to search on net about the complete story of Boota singh & zanib i want to see the real pics of the places where both Boota singh and Zanib spend there time …… The way the movie picturize its look so real in Shaed e mohabatt boota singh…..

Everyone is talking about the role of Boota Singh. But none is thinking about Zainab. Some are calling her ‘worthless woman’, some have titled her ‘concubine’. Have anyone ever thought about the situation and mentality of Zainab ? Was she really happy with the relationship? Maybe she had to get married with Boota Singh because of her being victim of circumstances. Perhaps she married Boota Singh to ensure her security or by force Boota Singh and the society. Maybe her beloved was someone else before the partition. Probably she wasn’t happy in Boota Singh’s family. Because that man was much older than Zainab. She was Only a young girl who had just acrossed her juvenile. She was too young to get married with an elderly person like Boota Singh. After going to back to her parents, she just followed the command of them by getting married with a Muslim. And I think, everyone should obey their parents. At that age, in Pakistan, it was not possible for a ordinary woman to stand against her family and society.

“When I was with him, he would fan me throughout the night. Now, my husband beats me up and taunts me. When you are in love, even death seems appealing and when you don’t find love, every single day is a fatigue”.
Link – http://www.dawn.com/news/778721/shaheed-and-shahdara-ii

I think your thesis on whether she loved him or not will change after reading this. I personally feel we should not be judgmental of what could have been or couldn’t have been. Love lost and the rest is immaterial and irrelevant!

which village boota singh was from in jallandher distt. What his uncle and his cousins who were actually responsible for all this romantic and tragic saga thought about this later when it was all over. why they did not try to find boota’s progeny( sultana )? This shows our true colour of us panjabis whatever the religion we belong to. It is very clear and written in freedom at midnight that she was married to an engineer and was residing in Libya with two or three daughters.

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